MELFORT — The City of Melfort is pulling its representative off the board of its local chamber of commerce.
Rick Lang, Melfort’s mayor, said that decision was made because the city is no longer providing the chamber with a $30,000 grant for tourism services.
“Since we’re no longer giving them that grant, we didn’t see a need to dictate to them that we should have a board member on their board.”
The member was a way for the city to ensure the money was being used properly.
The Melfort Chamber of Commerce is making an effort to recover after its board of directors found out in October 2017 it owes the Canada Revenue Agency around $36,000 in payroll deductions.
Coun. Tim Hoenmans, who was the city’s representative on the chamber, was part of that effort to recover. Lang said the business community needs to step up and take a lead role rather than look to the city for guidance.
“The push to renew the chamber has to come from the membership of the business community because that’s what the chamber is: it’s a collection of businesses that are interested in moving the chamber forward as part of advocacy for business,” he said. “That has to be driven by the business community.”
As a member of the chamber, the city could still possibly have a representative on the board, but they would have to be elected by the other members, not appointed by council.
